1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a walking stick, more particularly to a foldable walking stick chair that is convertible between a walking stick and a chair.
2. Description of the Related Art
Elder people have inferior physical condition. Usually, they need to walk with a walking stick, and take a rest after walking for a period of time. Taiwanese Utility Model Patent No. 277239 discloses a conventional foldable walking stick chair including a main stick, a leg unit and a seat unit. The main stick has a handle portion and a foot portion opposite to the handle portion. The leg unit is connected pivotally to the main stick at a pivot point to form a scissors-like structure, and has a support end and a connecting end opposite to the support end. The seat unit includes a slider member connected slidably to the main stick between the handle portion and the pivot point, and a seat plate connected pivotally to the slider member and the connecting end of the leg unit to form a slider-crank mechanism.
When the conventional walking stick chair is unfolded to be utilized as a chair, the main stick and the leg unit form an angle, the support end of the leg unit cooperates with the foot portion of the main stick for supporting the entire walking stick chair, and the seat plate is horizontal and forms an angle with the main stick. When the conventional walking stick chair is folded to be utilized as a walking stick, the slider member is moved upwardly toward the handle portion, the seat plate pivots downwardly relative to the slider member to be close to the main stick, and the leg unit pivots toward the main stick to reduce the angle between the leg unit and the main stick. At the folded state, the support end of the leg unit is lifted from the ground.
Despite being operable between a folded state and an unfolded state, the abovementioned walking stick chair has several disadvantages:
1. When the walking stick chair serves as a walking stick at the folded state, the support end of the leg unit is still proximate to the ground. If the ground is uneven, the support end may hit a projecting portion of the ground. Moreover, since the leg unit is X-shaped, a user may easily stumble on the leg unit when using the conventional walking stick chair as a walking stick.
2. In the folded state, the center of gravity of the walking stick chair is distal from the handle portion, so that the walking stick chair is laborious for the user when being used as a walking stick.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,565, U.S. Pat. No. 2,380,437, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,614,414 have disadvantages similar to the abovementioned walking stick chair.